Mumbai, Dec 10 : Police have arrested the driver of a BEST bus involved in an accident here, which claimed seven lives and left 42 others injured, and booked him for 'culpable homicide not amounting to murder', officials said on Tuesday. As many as 22 vehicles were damaged in the incident which took place at around 9.30 pm on Monday on the SG Barve Marg in Kurla (West), they said. The bus operated by the civic-run Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking hit several vehicles and pedestrians following which the driver, identified as Sanjay More, was detained.

An official on Tuesday said the driver has been placed under arrest and will be produced in a court here. The injured persons were undergoing treatment in various medical facilities, including Bhabha Hospital, Sion Hospital and Seven Hills Hospital, the official said, adding the condition of some of them was critical. The injured included four police personnel, who were on bandobast duty at the time of the incident. Their condition was stable, he said.

Locals had caught the bus driver immediately after the accident and the police subsequently took him into custody, he said. He was taken to a hospital for a medical test. His blood samples were also collected to examine whether he was under the influence of alcohol, the official said. The police have registered a case against the bus driver under sections 105 (punishment for culpable homicide that does not amount to murder) and 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and relevant provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, he said.

Police suspect the driver lost control over the wheels as the bus brakes failed, but it will be ascertained by experts, the official said. In details shared with the media, BEST said "as per the initial information, the driver lost control of the bus". The bus, after ploughing through pedestrians and vehicles in Kurla (West), entered into a residential society, Buddha Colony, and came to a halt, officials said on Monday. The bus was a 12-metre long electric vehicle manufactured by Hyderabad-based Olectra Greentech and it had been taken by BEST on wet lease, an official earlier said.

/Agencies